Picture credit - Story of Narasimha - LiveHistoryIndia
Day 62 - Problem Solving Skill
10 June, 2020
sirurp@gmail.com
My learning for the day
Today I want to summarise two mythological stories on Problem Solving. I dedicate this post to Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik, the modern day mythology Guru, author of Business Sutra: An Indian Approach to Management.
Story 1 - Narasimha (from Hindu mythology)
(This is my version of story; I have taken some liberties to suit the story to our topic of problem solving; sorry I am a bit carried away and made the story long)
The demon King Hiranyakashyap prayed God Bramha for many years. Bramha was pleased with the king and asked him for a boon. Hiranyakashyap asked immortality for him.
Bramha had burnt his fingers in the past because of these demon kings. So he told Hiranyakashyap that he can not give him blanket immortality but a conditional one. And asked him to set the conditions.
This is the first problem solving in this story - Hiranyakashyap had to define immortality in such a way that he would not be killed by anyone. So he defined a detailed description to cover all eventualities.
This is what he defined -
- I should not be killed by a human being nor an animal
- I should not be killed during the day or night
- I should not be killed on earth or in the sky
- I should not be killed in my palace nor out of my palace
- I should not be killed by any weapon
- The enemy should not enter my house from the doors, windows or from the ceiling
God Bramha agreed; armed with this boon, the immortal Hiranyakashyap went on a rampage harassing everyone in the world and even the Gods in heaven. The Gods went to Lord Vishnu for help.
This is the second problem solving in this story - Vishnu asked all the Gods to find a chink in the armour. The Gods went through the boon with a fine tooth comb and started asking questions to each other to find an answer.
The first condition was - Hiranyakashyap can not be killed by a human or an animal. One of the Gods came with a brainwave - If it is neither a man nor an animal, can it be an “animalman”. Then it will be neither a man nor an animal.
Once this train of thought was triggered and accepted, others started building on it.
I should not be killed during the day or night - “What if the time is between the day and night - an evening?”
I should not be killed on earth or in the sky; I should not be killed inside my palace nor out of my palace - “These looks difficult, let’s park it for the moment.”
I should not be killed by any weapon - “Can the AnimalMan use his nails? Nails are not weapons.”
The enemy should not enter my house from the doors, windows or from the ceiling - “This one is also difficult. Let’s leave it to Vishnu to solve.”
After all the deliberations they had an action plan - Vishnu should take a new avatar as Narasimha (half man and half lion). Narasimha should come out of a pillar in Hiranyakashyap’s palace (not from a door or a ceiling) during dusk (no day no night), pull Hiranyakashyap to the threshold of the house (neither inside nor outside of the palace), put him on Narasimha’s lap (neither ground nor sky) and kill Hiranyakashyap using his nails (not a weapon).
The learning
- When the whole groups works together, many more solutions evolve
- When one useful insight is triggered, it provides fuel to generate more ideas. So we should keep on pouring ideas even the wildest ones. One of them provides a way out
- When you know there is a support from a mentor, you build confidence within you to solve a problem
Story 2 - The Gordian Knot (Greek story)
Source - History
The term “Gordian knot” is used to describe a complex or unsolvable problem.
As the story goes, in 333 B.C. Alexander the great marched his army into the Phrygian capital of Gordium. Upon arriving in the city, he encountered an ancient wagon, its yoke tied with “several knots all so tightly entangled that it was impossible to see how they were fastened.”
Phrygian tradition held that any man who unravels the knots will rule all of Asia.
Alexander wrestled with the knot for some time and finding no success, he stepped back and proclaimed, “It makes no difference how they are loosened.” He then drew his sword and sliced the knot in half with a single stroke (Alexander later proved the superstition right when he became the emperor of most of our planet).
- Gordian knot is problem solving by bold action
- We should be aware that every organisation has Gordian knots (interia to look for new opportunities to solve business problems)
- We should untie the Gordian knots is our surroundings if we believe ourselves to be true problem solvers (it’s not possible, our company won’t encourage new ideas, many have tried but failed to get management support, who has time for this?, what will you get by doing this? This is not the right time. We have other priorities .... etc are the Gordian knots that we see all around)
- When we challenge assumptions, we find many creative solutions that never occurred to us before
- When we develop a belief about ourselves that we are out-of-the-box problem solvers, our subconscious mind proves us right; it will throw solutions at us
- Sometimes a complex problem has most elementary solutions
My learning so far on this topic
Day 2 post - ‘5 Whys Analysis’ to find the root of a problem
Day 12 post - Design thinking. Two stories about design thinking in action
Day 22 post - Fishbone diagram to find root cause to a problem
Day 32 post - Two TED talks - Collaborative visualisation, The trolley problem (ethical dilemma), and a note on who decides the ethics of self driving cars
Day 42 post - Two books - Problem Solving 101 & The Art of Thinking Clearly
Day 52 post - Two movies - Willy Wonka and the Charlie Factory & Rudy
What is Problem-Solving Skill?
Problem-Solving Skill is the ability to determine the source of a problem and find an effective solution.
How to improve this skill?
Set a goal to become a go-to person by mastering the art and science of problem solving.
Follow the LAST model to build your personal brand as a Guru of problem solving.
Learn - Invest time in learning different frameworks/ models/ techniques of problem solving
Apply -
Identify a model suitable to you
Create a template to document the flow of the process
Find opportunities to use the selected method/ template
Maintain record/ process flow of every important activities you did with respect to problem solving
Maintain notes of your thoughts/ insights/ failures/ challenges…. to be used for sharing/ training others
Share - Share the insights captured in step 2 above in a planned manner (social media posts, blogs, videos, study notes…)
Train - Generate opportunities to train your peers and team members so that, over time, your organization benefits from your efforts
Purpose of this document
I took a 66 day challenge to study Life Skills last year (10 April 2019). To my astonishment, I succeeded in studying for 66 days one skill a day.
My objectives of learning these skills were - To strengthen my mind to face life’s challenges with ease, To use these skills in my worklife for a better performance, To use these skills in my personal life for enriching my relationships, To open new possibilities to surprise myself.
This is my next 66 day challenge (from 10 April 2020) - To share my Life Skills learning with my social media friends.
I pray that my toil helps you in your success journey.
What are Life Skills?
UNICEF defines Life skills as - psychosocial abilities for adaptive and positive behaviour that enable individuals to deal effectively with the demands and challenges of everyday life. They are loosely grouped into three broad categories of skills
- cognitive skills for analyzing and using information,
- personal skills for developing personal agency and managing oneself,
- inter-personal skills for communicating and interacting effectively with others.
Which LifeSkills are covered?
The World Health Organisation identified these basic areas of life skills that are relevant across cultures:
1. Decision-making
2. Problem-solving
3. Creative thinking
4. Critical thinking
5. Communication
6. Interpersonal skills
7. Self-awareness
8. Empathy
9. Coping with emotions
10. Coping with stress.
Some trivia
‘Life skills’ was never part of the school curriculum. WHO/ UNESCO mandated academia to teach these skills in all schools across the globe in 1993.
Different countries educate their children in these skills with different objectives
- Zimbabwe and Thailand - prevention of HIV/AIDS
- Mexico - prevention of adolescent pregnancy
- United Kingdom - child abuse prevention
- USA - prevention of substance abuse and violence
- South Africa and Colombia - positive socialization of children.
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